Lakeland icers pull off slick tie vs. Davison

The icy conditions on area roads weren’t the only thing slick Friday night, as White Lake Lakeland lived up to the definition of that word with a couple of its goals in a 3-3 non-conference boys hockey game against Davison.

Tied at a goal apiece after the opening period, it didn’t take long in the ensuing period for the host Eagles (3-3-2 overall) to reclaim the lead, albeit in an unconventional fashion at Lakeland Ice Arena.

Looking for an idea passing lane in the Cardinals’ defensive zone, senior forward Bryant Cohen centered the puck to a charging Ricky Rayner, who was in the midst of being cross-checked by the opposition. Nonetheless, Rayner maintained possession of the puck as he fell to the ice and slid in head-first past the goal line with 4:55 elapsed.

After what seemed like an eternity, the on-ice officials agreed that the puck crossed the line prior to the net coming undone.

Lakeland coach Tim Ronayne compared the strange manner in which Rayner scored to the awkward mannerisms of Detroit Red Wings forward and former Michigan State standout Justin Abdelkader.

“I told Ricky that it was like an Abdelkader goal,” Ronayne said. “All we know is it goes on the scoreboard and nobody knows how pretty or ugly it was. He did what we’ve been preaching all through this game and in prior games, which was to go hard to the net. There are rebounds there and that’s exactly what he did. I’m not sure what part of his body it went off of, but it went in the net.”

Davison, however, got its retribution with less than a second left on the clock, as forward Adam Parker finished off a Jordan Scott pass from the blue line to beat junior goaltender Austin Gogola and forge a 2-2 tie.

A penalty-plagued third period quickly became a cause of concern for the Eagles, who were flagged for a pair of hitting-from-behind majors, causing them to be shot-handed for the majority of the period.

The Cardinals (5-2-1) were able to capitalize on one of those power plays, gaining their first lead of the contest at the 9:31 mark on a goal by forward Nick Goyette.

But the Eagles found a way to bounce back a mere 50 seconds later, this time on a different kind of slick goal that came courtesy of the smooth, skillful approach of forwards Nick Langley and Travis Gragg.

Working a give-and-go from the face-off, Gragg chipped the puck to on the kleft wing Langley, who then executed a pass back to Gragg with laser-like precision for the tip-in on goaltender Connor McDowell.

It turns out that the duo had called for the play immediately after Davison scored, according to Gragg.

“We actually were talking about how he was going to score and how we were going to celebrate afterwards together,” Gragg said. ‘It was funny, because I actually tipped it out to him and he just took it up and I don’t know how hard I skated, but I wanted it so bad. He gave me a perfect pass and I didn’t even go to the student section (to celebrate), because he hooked me up. That was a better pass than it was a goal because all I did was tip it in.”

Langley admitted that he and Gragg purposely practice drills to prep for opportunities like that.

“Gragg and I actually practice this at practice sometimes and we like to set up different scenarios,” said Langley, who serves as team captain. “Me and him like to do little things together, so we had a chance to do it in the game and that was pretty good.”

Earlier in the game, Cohen executed his own give-and-go with junior defenseman Austin Bucknell to put Lakeland ahead with four minutes remaining in the opening period.

Cohen circled back toward the defensive zone to set up the attack before giving a quick pass to Bucknell in the neutral zone. From there, Bucknell sent the puck back to Cohen for the finish to the left of the net, which came on a delayed penalty call against Davison.

“That’s a first for me as a coach in high school – we scored on a delayed penalty,” Ronayne said. “The key to that was puck control and that was started by Cohen originally. Then they just worked the give-and-go and you can’t ask for anything better than that. It was textbook.”

Tied 3-3 after regulation, both teams opted for an extra period over the shootout, with neither one able to secure the game-winning goal in the allotted eight minutes.